<!--quoteo(post=81440:date=Mar 4 2010, 12:39 AM:name=Destined)-->QUOTE (Destined @ Mar 4 2010, 12:39 AM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->This could be a stupid question, but here it goes. What exactly is "non-tendering" in baseball? Do teams have to do that to players, or is it simply an option to "non-tender" a player?
I ask because I see all this NFL news about teams "placing tenders" on players, which again baffles me. The whole restricted vs. unrestricted free agent moniker is blurry to me. Can someone clear this up for me? Fella? Clapp? Anyone else who knows the business?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
To tender a contract simply means to agree to continue paying a player for their services. This term in sports is usually used for players who are not yet free agents or who are restricted free agents.
In Baseball you are not a free agent until you have 6 full years of service. However in years 4-6 the player has a right to receive his 'value' as compensation. If a team "tenders" a contract it just means they are willing to pay that player their value. They can then either agree together what that value is or they can go to arbitration and let someone else decide it. Either way both parties are bound to follow it once the contract is tendered.
If a team "non-tenders" a player it just means the team does not want to pay that player their value and they are releasing them. The player is then free to sign elsewhere, but again will not become a free agent again until 6 years of service have been reached or until they are non-tendered again.
In some other sports with restricted free agent rules, teams decide whether or not to tender contracts to restricted free agents. If they do, the player can look elsewhere but once they were tendered by their original team, that team can match any offer and keep the player. If they are non-tendered then again they are released and free to sign elsewhere.
